Microsoft today said they want to ship over 10 million Xbox 360’s to stores by the end of 2006. To quote Reuters: “This holiday, we expect to have sold in excess of 10 million units worldwide and an expected catalog of 160 high-definition games,” a Microsoft spokeswoman said.
Don’t you just love the spin machine working in full force? According to the article that “sold” number refers to units “sold into retail” and refers to units in transit, units sitting in store inventories and machines sold to consumers, the spokeswoman said. So in fact they are saying they will produce and ship 10 million units this year, instead of their questionable target of 10 million sold (up from 6 million at the end of October) to customers in 2006.
Microsoft had previously forecast global shipments of 10 million by the end of the calendar year, as well as shipments of 13 million by 15 million by the end of its 2007 fiscal year that ends June 30th, 2007. Off to play Gears of War, I am.